Catalyst
by snickers3339
Summary: When Oliver Oken arrives, he disrupts the once peaceful atmosphere in Miley Stewart's life. He ignites her first trip through drama, standing up and standing out and learning how love doesn't always have to end in disaster. Moliver AU


**Honestly not sure where this is gonna go. :) My mind buzzed with this idea last night and I just _had _to write it down...and here it is.**

**I have to finish my other multi-chaps, I know. grr. x)  
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**Chapter One: (Not) Just Another Day**

"Miley!" a loud voice called up the stairs. "Dad says to get up _NOW_, or you'll be late for school!"

"Shut up, _Jerkson_! I'm getting ready!" Miley hollered back down, poking her head out her bedroom door while trying to stuff both her legs into her jeans at the same time. A thud and a yelp soon followed as she realised a second too late that it wasn't _actually _possible to _hop_ into a pair of jeans. She grumbled, brushing off imaginary dust and looking at herself in the mirror. She grimaced, poking at her soft belly - she wasn't fat, but she wasn't fit either. She quickly pulled out a plain v-neck shirt and tugged it over her shoulders. She glanced at her wavy hair that hung loosely over her shoulders and back. She wasn't sure how to manage it, most days. Miley grabbed a fistful of her hair, letting it go as she ran her fingers through the soft thickness. She blew a wisp of it out of her face and frowned at her reflection. She hesitantly took a step closer.

"So plain," she grumbled. This was exactly how every one of her mornings started. With disdain at the thought of another day at school where she hid in the shadows and spent her time studying and avoiding the she-devils.

She grabbed a hair-tie and tied her hair in a simple ponytail, letting a few strands hang loose after she realised she could not cooperate with her own hair.

She sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time that morning and opened her closet once more to look down at her shoe possibilities.

Converse, Converse, Converse, Vans, Converse.

"_MILEY_!" She gave a start.

"_COMING! _Converse it is," she muttered, pulling out her worn out Chucks.

She hopped down the hallway tugging on her shoes and then proceeded to slide down the railing of her staircase.

"Bud, I wish you wouldn't do that," her father reprimanded lightly as she jumped off the railing suddenly and landed on the main floor with a thump. He offered her a small plate of pancakes. She smiled in thanks and sat down munching down on her breakfast. "Any plans today?"

"Well," she said with her mouth full. "Lilly and I are gonna hang out after school. Is that okay, daddy?"

"Lilly?" Jackson asked, seemingly perking up.

"Yes, Lilly, as in my _best friend_, as in girl you've known for _years_, as in _OFF LIMITS_."

"What? No. I never said I was _interested_ in her." He seemed to struggle for an excuse. "It's just....you...always hang out with her...a lot?" he finished lamely.

Miley stared at him suspiciously. She didn't know what she'd do if her 18 year old brother suddenly decided he had the hots for her best friend. She'd probably freak out.

There was a knock on the door. Miley turned around to see the aforementioned girl waving at her urgently. "Speaking of Lilly...I'm gonna go now, daddy. Bye jerk, see you later," she said, giving Jackson a dismissing wave. She let her father kiss her on the forehead before running to the couch to pick up her backpack and dashing to the door. She opened it, and stepped out into the warm Malibu sun.

"Your hair looks nice today," Lilly commented, smiling at her friend of two and a half years.

"Your hair always looks nice," Miley commented back, and that was true. Lilly Truscott was everything Miley wished she was - Pretty, athletic, outgoing, confident.

"Oh stop it. I know you're gonna comment on how you wish you had my hair and blah blah blah, but I'm gonna tell you this again, like I do almost everyday: You, Miley Ray Stewart are completely gorgeous and if you would give guys a chance I'm sure you'd have a thousand of them falling at your feet."

Miley looked away, not wanting to think of what she had left behind in Tennessee. "I'm not ready for a relationship," she said, a guarded look on her face. Lilly didn't seem to notice. Miley also wished she was as _oblivious_ to the world around her sometimes, just like her best friend.

"Also, I'm sure if you put a little bit of eyeliner..."

"No."

"I'm talking microscopic amounts, here, Miles."

"No."

It continued all the way to the bus stop. By then, Miley was gripping the straps on her backpack until her knuckles turned white. She didn't believe in make up - sure the occasional lip gloss and maybe lipstick, but that was it. Miley enjoyed the natural look. Lilly did too, most of the time.

"...Blush?"

"I blush enough." Miley thanked God as the bus rolled to a stop in front of them.

"You never blush."

"Are we going to have this conversation all the way to school?" Miley asked/whined as they climbed onto the bus.

Miley saw the amount of people on the bus and as always, she kept her eyes down. She kept her eyes focused on the ground and the back of Lilly's feet, while making sure she didn't trip and fall like she had done a few times.

"...maybe a social event or something," Lilly was saying. Miley didn't respond, knowing that Lilly would drop it after a while.

"Hey," Lilly said suddenly and Miley looked up, thinking she was addressing her. She saw the back of Lilly's head and looked at where Lilly was turned towards. What she saw almost made her fall over completely. A completely _gorgeous_ boy was sitting silently, leaning against the window. He had headphones on and seemed to be immersed in it. He blinked, and in Miley's mind she saw it happen in slow motion. His eyelashes were beautiful - was that even_ possible_? He slowly pulled his headphones off and looked at them with an eyebrow raised.

"You're sitting in _our_ seat," Lilly said bluntly. Miley was taken out of her reverie by Lilly's voice. _Gorgeous_ looked up at Lilly, then turned to face _her_ questioningly. She swallowed.

"Er, Lils, it's okay...We can sit there," Miley said quickly, pointing at the seat across the aisle.

Lilly looked infuriated.

"You _cannot_ let guys walk all over you like that," she hissed once they were safely settled in their new seat.

"What are you talking about? You barely exchanged words - did he even say anything?"

"No, but you can't let a guy--"

"I think you've been hanging out with your mom too much," Miley teased lightly. Lilly huffed and turned to stare out the window. Miley turned and focused her attention on _him_.

He was listening intently to his iPod again and tapping his fingers on his knee. She noted his style - dark, with a slight rocker look. He wore skinny jeans and a black v-neck shirt. He had a dog tag hanging loosely around his neck and she felt curiosity rise through her.

It was short lived though when he suddenly reached up and tucked his dog tag into his shirt. She glanced up slowly and she was met with smoldering dark brown eyes boring into hers. She gulped, and looked away slowly, feeling a blush rise to her cheeks. She flinched, not enjoying the warmth spreading over her face.

She thought she heard a chuckle.

"Miley?" Lilly's voice floated into her ear. "Are you blushing?"

If possible, she blushed even more. "No."

"You look red."

"I'm warm?"

"Hm..."

Miley was confused with her own thoughts and sudden attraction towards this...new boy. She was sure that she promised herself to swear away from boys until she was at least 40. Nonetheless, Miley made sure Lilly was faced away again before turning once more to _Tall, Dark and Handsome_. He flipped his hair casually and she almost, quite literally,_ swooned_.

_I do not swoon - Oh God, when was the last time I swooned?_

Her palms felt sweaty all of a sudden as she cocked her head a little noticing the clear muscles on his arms.

"Oh God," she muttered.

"Huh?"

She whipped around to face Lilly so fast she felt something tighten in her neck. She ignored the blinding pain and returned Lilly's question with her own,

"Huh?"

"You're kinda out of it today, Miles."

"I'm um...nervous. About...The test. That we have in...."

"Chemistry?" Lilly offered helpfully.

"Yeah, sure."

"Oh, apparently it's really easy. Joannie's class already did it and she said Mr. Stevenson gave quite a bit of multiple choice, granted it was a pretty short unit..."

Miley barely heard what Lilly was saying because at that moment the bus was sliding to a stop in front of the school and Mystery Guy stood up, grabbed his backpack and slid out into the aisle, gripping the back of her seat for support. She almost suffered a stroke from sensory overload. She could smell some sort of fresh, spicy deodorant on him, and she was _pretty _sure his fingers were barely grazing her hair.

Her stomach twisted and turned and she found herself wishing she were back in bed under the covers. She didn't want to feel all...this again. The memory of Tennessee was far away and yet it was so close. She couldn't let herself get drawn back into the complicated web of lies, deceit and of course, the thrill of love and heartbreak.

She stood up and proceeded to what she knew was not going to be a normal day at school.

Upon entering the doorway, it was like entering another world. She found herself suddenly surrounded by many, _many _sights and sounds. Loud laughter rang about and she saw footballs flying over a sea of heads.

"Ms. Stewart, I hope you have that English essay for me today."

"Good morning, Ms. Stewart, did you have a nice weekend?"

"Hey_ Stinky_, how's it going?"

"Ms. Stewart, how is your brother now that he's graduated? Keeping his nose clean?"

"Hey Miley, are you ready for the test?"

Miley wove her way around the crowd, muttering generic responses to the questions she suddenly found herself assaulted by. She tried to make herself smaller to blend in with the crowd and squeeze her way through them.

She should have been keeping her head because she suddenly smacked heads with somebody's arm painfully.

"Hey, watch where you're going, Stewart." She didn't have to look up to know it was one of them. She looked up anyway to glare angrily knowing that she had probably hit her intentionally.

"Well, maybe you need to watch where you're going with that fat head of yours, _Jessica_," she snapped, enunciating each syllable of her name snidely.

Jessica opened her mouth to retort, but at that moment the warning bell rang and Miley shot her another dirty look before making a dash to her locker.

She fumbled with the lock - yet _another _thing that didn't seem to want to work and almost screamed in frustration when suddenly a pair of hands started tapping her locker in some sort of erratic rhythm. She turned around to ward off the psychopath that had decided to play hand games with her locker.

"Hi," _he _said, his lips twitching into some sort of smile.

She gaped.

"H-h-h--"

Her locker clicked open and she was barely aware of it. What she _was _aware of was the fact that they were standing _very _close together.

"Thanks for your seat on the bus today," he said nonchalantly before walking off.

She blinked after him.

"You're welcome...?" _That's it? He's not even going to tell me his name? I cannot go on calling him Gorgeous for the rest of the school year..._

She shook it off, reminding herself that she needed to focus on school. Stuffing her unnecessary books into her locker, she grabbed her Biology text book and headed to class.

Sitting at her usual table, she noted that her partner was missing yet _again _for what seemed like four days in a row. Content with working by herself, she opened her book and focused on the page.

"Good morning class - Ah, Ms. Stewart," Miley looked up. "Abigail and her family have unfortunately moved and we were just notified of that fact. However, we have a new student in class today..."

"No," she muttered.

"I'd like to welcome Oliver Oken," her teacher announced. "Mr. Oken, please have a seat beside Ms. Stewart - Miley, please raise your hand."

She raised her hand slowly and Oliver - _that was his name, oh my God _- walked up to her table and sat beside her.

"Miley?"

"Y-yes?"

"Your, erm...arm is about to touch that dish containing a _very_ questionable substance."

Alarmed, she turned her attention downwards and yanked her arm away from the offending petri dish. It looked like jello, but had strips of something that she definitely did not want to investigate at the moment.

"Ha, ha, ha..." she laughed awkwardly. "So...are you like...stalking me or something?" Mentally, she smacked herself on the forehead. _What the HELL was that?_

"I dunno. Are you stalking _me?_" His tone was monotonous, but he had a glint in his eye - almost playful. She let a tiny giggle slip.

"Sounds like we're stalking each other," she shot back, startling herself at how flirty her tone had become.

_No, Miley. NO FLIRTING. You've just met this guy! WHY are you flirting? It hasn't even been 20 minutes! _

She coughed, putting a passive expression on her face and focusing on the projection now on the board.

As Miley threw herself back into work, she didn't notice Oliver contemplating her out of the corner of his eye.

Oliver noted that she seemed rather reserved, although just a few moments ago, _that _girl seemed more realistic and honest. He wanted to know a bit more about her. She was interesting.

He smiled a little to himself. _And not to mention pretty._

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I know you hated it. yes, Theresa's writing has truly taken a turn for the worst. :D Review anyway, please! :)  
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